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Gloria's Miracle

It's late and I know I should be in bed, but I'm still too wound up from an amazing evening to go to sleep just yet. Tonight, Jerry Brewer (Seattle Times columnist) released his book, "Gloria's Miracle" -- a book about Gloria Strauss and her battle with neuroblastoma. For those of you who followed his story in The Seattle Times, you already know how amazing the story is and you will want to read this book. For those of you who don't know the story, trust me -- you need to read this book and you will probably finish a little better of a person than you were when you started reading!
You can find it here:http://www.amazon.com/Glorias-Miracle-Jerry-Brewer/dp/0970739974/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252476760&sr=8-1

My wife and I got to know Gloria about three years ago when she went with a bunch of us on a winter trip to Wisconsin. She caught our attention immediately, shining bright and standing out as a leader among her peers. She was gentle yet vivacious, outspoken but respectful. She was beautiful - and glorious. Less than a year later, we heard that she might not make it. We never got to see her again, but she touched us so profoundly in the few days that we were able to spend with her that we will never forget her.

Since then, Rachel and I have gotten to know her family (they are awesome) and we are on the board of directors for the charity her dad, Doug, started after she passed away. It's called Gloria's Angels, appropriately named as they activate communities around families dealing with terminal illnesses. If you want to check it out, you can find more information on Gloria's Angels at: www.gloriasangels.org. They are always looking for support and volunteers!

Anyway, tonight was the book release for Gloria's Miracle and I was invited to sing a song that my wife and I wrote called, "Too Beautiful for this World" -- you can hear the song on my MySpace page, www.craigterrill.com. I love music and I love performing, but being able to sing for this event was even more special than performing at the coolest rock concert could possibly be.

I can't help but watch the clock so I know I've got to go finish studying film for this week's game and then climb into bed. I hope you're all having a great week

TODAY'S TOUCHDOWN: Seeing the smiles on Kristen's and Doug's faces (Gloria's parents) as they saw how many people came out to support Jerry's book and to celebrate their daughter's life. It was awesome to see that they're doing so well.

Chicken Wings

Even though it was a long day, it was a fun one. I started the day early again -- treatment at 6:30am. It was more active than the past few days, though. I did body-weight squats and a pool workout. It's encouraging to see the progress my back has made. I even got on the field to do some pass rush drills on a pop-up bag. I worked on the swim move mostly and an inside counter move.

Kerney looked sharp today in pass-rush drills too. It's good to see him having a healthy year. After practice, he was playing some solid hair-metal on the D-Line I-Pod. He brought in some loud speakers so we can try to compete with music coming from the secondary guys. It's usually a consistent sound coming from them -- Rap and R&B. The D-Line listens to those two as well, but we tend to have a wider variety of songs playing.

Edge was in the locker room today too. He looked different than I thought he would -- no gold teeth. I've heard from some of my former teammates in Arizona that he is an incredible teammate. I'm looking forward to seeing him on the field and getting to know him in the locker room.

The end of the day was the most fun. The D-Line got together to watch Kansas City game film and Coach Quinn brought chicken wings for all of us. Kansas City has a strong veteran offensive-line. It should be a good challenge for us on Saturday.

Gotta go play with my little girl -- she's waving her hand and saying, "Da Da Da Da Da Da".

TODAY'S TOUCHDOWN:
Seeing both of my girls standing at the front door smiling at me when I got home!

Rehab

I was up at 5:30 this morning to head to the training room to get my back contusion worked on by our talented training staff. There's nothing worse than rehab -- it's mentally draining when you want to be out practicing with your teammates. But it's necessary to help get back to 100% for the game.

I was able to participate in individual drills today but sat out of the contact drills. It's funny to read what the media makes of what they see at practice. It sounded like I had to stop mid-practice today, but in reality that was the plan all along.

On my way through the locker room today I saw Edgerrin James' name being put on one of our lockers. I'm excited to have him as a teammate because I grew up as a Colts fan in Indiana. I used to joke that the Colts waited until I was in the NFL (and could no longer have them as my favorite team) to be good. We will miss TJ Duckett and hope he's successful somewhere else (just not against us!)

I got in some guitar playing this evening on the couch with Rachel -- The Beatles, mostly, after reading the recent Rolling Stone article about the band. It inspired me to go back and play a couple of favorites (I'm so Tired; Blackbird; Happiness is a Warm Gun).

Today's Touchdown:
Putting on my cleats today when I was expected not to be able to practice!